Device for taking core samples from ocean and other submarine floors

ABSTRACT

A core barrel for taking a sample core from a submarine floor is provided, and a guide tube for deploying and recovering the core barrel has a center passage through which the core barrel can move. The guide tube has an open end for entry and exit of the core barrel and its passage diverges conically in the direction towards this open end. Barrel-guiding elements are located within the passage for guiding the barrel.

United States Patent [191 Harms et al.

[ -Apr. l, 1975 DEVICE FOR TAKING CORE SAMPLES FROM OCEAN AND OTHER SUBMARINE FLOORS [75] Inventors: Horst Harms, Bremerhaven;

Wilhelm Lucht, Nordenham, both of Germany [73] Assignee: Aktiengesellsehaft Weser,

Bremen, Germany 22 Filed: Jan. 18,1974

21 Appl. No.: 434,576

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Apr. 27, 1973 Germany 2321291 [52] US. Cl. 175/5, 175/220 [51] Int. Cl E2lb 7/12, E2lb 25/00 [58] Field of Search 175/5, 6, 7, 161, 248, 175/246, 236, 247, 257, 58, 84, 85, 220,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Cuthbert 175/5 X 2,326,435 8/1943 Bynum 175/248 X 2,391,869 l/l946 Bandy 175/236 X 2,650,069 8/1953 Rand 175/6 3,146,838 9/1964 Tijmann et a1 175/220 X 3,491,842 l/l970 Delacour et a1. 175/6 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 815,251 6/1959 United Kingdom 175/161 773,629 11/1934 France Primary ExaminerFrank L. Abbott Assistant Examiner-Richard E. Favreau Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Michael S. Striker [5 7] ABSTRACT A core barrel for taking a sample core from a submarine floor is provided, and a guide tube for deploying and recovering the core barrel has a center passage through which the core barrel can move. The guide tube has an open end for entry and exit of the core barrel and its passage diverges conically in the direction towards this open end. Barrel-guiding elements are located within the passage for guiding the barrel.

3 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures DEVICE FOR TAKING CORE SAMPLES FROM ()(IEAN AND OTHER SUBMARINE FLOORS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a device for taking core samples from ocean and other submarine floors.

There are many scientific, technical and commercial circumstances in which it is necessary or desired to obtain a sample showing the composition of the ocean floor or of the floor beneath a different body of water. It is known for this purpose to use a core barrel which removes a core or plug of the ocean bottom after having been lowered from a vessel or other supporting platform. The barrel is then raised and the core thus extracted can now be inspected. In this manner it is possible, for example, to study the composition of the various strata of which a submarine floor such as the ocean bottom is composed.

The extracted core is frequently quite long and is, of course, highly susceptible to bending stresses, which may cause it to collapse. It is self-evident that such a collapse is greatly undesirable because it will destroy any chance of studying the stratification of the core and, hence, of the submarine floor from which the core has been extracted. For this reason it is known to provide U-shaped guides which are elongated and are open along one side. These are suspended at one end from a suspending arrangement which may be located onboard a ship, and the core barrel with the core therein is then raised until it is alongside the guide, whereupon it is laterally moved into the guide through the open side of the latter. The core is now protected and supported over its entire length, so that the guide can be moved to a horizontal position and swung onboard where it is deposited horizontally on deck. For this purpose, a second suspending arrangement is provided which engages the other end of the guide so that the latter can be moved until it is in horizontal position. It is known to use as such suspending arrangements arms which can be telescopically extended and retracted transversely of the elongation of the ship, so that they can be extended outwardly beyond or retracted inwardly of shipboard.

The difficulty with the prior art comes into play when the barrel with the core in it must be laterally inserted through the open side of the U-shaped guide rail. This is particularly difficult in the case of rough or relatively rough seas, because any unintentional contact of the soft core with, for instance, the guide rail, the ship or any other solid element, can cause collapse of the core and thus ruin many hours of work previously performed to obtain the core in the first place.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved device of the type under discussion, namely for taking core samples from ocean and other submarine floors, which device is not possessed of the prior art disadvantages.

More particularly, it is an object of the invention to provide such an improved device in which the core is reliably protected against damage and loss during recovery of the core and hoisting of the core onboard the ship, platform or the like.

In keeping with the above objects, and with others which will become apparent hereafter, one feature of the invention resides in a device for taking core samples from ocean and other submarine floors which, briefly stated, comprises a core barrel for taking a sample core from a submarine floor, and means for deploying and recovering the core barreL'The means comprises a guide tube having a center passage dimensioned for movement of the core barrel therethrough and provided with an open end for entry and exit of the core barrel. The center passage has in the region of its open end a cross section which conically diverges towards the open end. Barrel-guiding elements are provided within the passage for guiding the core barrel during movement in the passage.

With this construction the core barrel which is suspended from a rope, cable or the like, which extends through the center passage of the guide tube, will automatically be guided into this center passage as the rope is taken up by a winch or other suitable device onboard the ship or platform. This causes the core barrel with the core therein to properly enter into the guide tube, with respect to the center passage of which it is automatically centered by the fact that the cross section of the passage conically converges inwardly of the open end. This is essentially uninfluenced by the prevailing sea and by movements of the ship or other platform which are performed under the influence of the wave motion.

The tube itself may be circumferentially complete and longitudinally hinged so that it can be opened up for inspection and access of the core sample, or it may even have an open side.

The portion of the tube having the diverging crosssectional passage need not be of one piece with the remainder of the tube, but can be a separate funnelshaped member, or can be composed, for instance, of a plurality of rods or bars which are arranged in funnel shape.

It is particularly advantageous if a funnel-shaped member is used which may, for instance, be of glass fiber reinforced synthetic plastic material or any other suitable material, in conjunction with a roller-type hawse, the hawse being provided for the purpose of as.- suring, via its turnably mounted rollers, a smooth lowfriction guidance on the core barrel into the guide tube, or rather to the inner guide elements which are located in the guide tube proper.

During the entire deployment and recovery of the core barrel, the rope or tow from which the latter is suspended remains located within the confines of the guide tube.

Deploying and recovering units for deploying and recovering the core barrel and the guide tube may be in form of the already known, per se, arms which can be telescoped outwardly beyond and retracted inwardly of shipboard.

It is desirable in many circumstances to be able to use at least two of the core barrels, either simultaneously (to obtain core samples from adjacent points of the submarine floor), or in succession. To make this possible it is advantageous according to a further concept of the invention to provide four of the units, of which two each are associated with one of the core barrels and one of the associated guide tubes. This makes it possible, for instance, to either take two core samples simultaneously, as mentioned before, or, for instance, to deploy one of the core barrels and the associated guide tube while at the same time taking onboard another core barrel with its core sample, and preparing that same core barrel and associated guide tube for subsequent deployment while the sample is being removed and readied for examination.

The novel features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic side view of a marine vessel provided with the device according to the present invcntion:

FIG. 2 is a top-plan view of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a section taken on line IIl--III of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to the drawing in detail, it will be seen that in FIGS. 1 and 2 we have illustrated a ship, for instance a research vessel, a commercial exploration vessel or the like. The vessel has a deck 1 on which in the illustrated embodiment there are mounted four deployment and recovery units 2, 3, 4 and 5. These units have been illustrated only diagrammatically inasmuch as they are already well-known from this art, as outlined earlier; they can be in form of telescopic arms, that is arms having one portion which is fixedly mounted onboard and another portion which can slide along the fixedly mounted portion between two positions in one of which the free end of the slidablc portion extends outwardly ofthe ship (note the unit 2 in FIG. 2) and another position in which the free end is located inwardly of shipboard (note the unit 4 in FIG. 2). Of course, it is possible to move the entire unit in this manner, rather than have it be telescopic.

The free end ofeach of the units 2, 3, 4 and 5 carries a pulley 14 (shown diagrammatically with respect to the units 3 and 4 in FIG. 1) which, of course, moves with the respective unit. Two of the units always cooperate with one another, such as the units 2 and 3 on the one hand, and the units 4 and 5 on the other hand.

In the illustrated embodiment there are two guide tubes 6 and 7 provided, of which one is shown in FIG. 1 in deployed condition in which it depends more or less vertically into the water from the ship, whereas the tube 7 is shown located in a horizontal position onboard the ship, namely on the deck 1 (compare also FIG. 2). The tube 6 is suspended at one end from the unit 3, whereas the tube 7 is suspended at one end from the unit 4. Each of the tubes 6 and 7 has at its free end a guide portion 10 which in the illustrated embodiment is conically enlarged, that is its interior cross section diverges in direction outwardly away from the respective tube. These guide portions 10 can be separate elements or they can be an integral part of the respective tube. Each tube 6, 7 also has a center passage and a length which corresponds substantially to the length of a core barrel 8 (shown diagrammatically because well known in the art per se) and the core sample which is to be subsequently removed from the core barrel 8 when the tube is in the position shown for the tube 7.

With respect to the tube 6 it is shown that the core barrel 8 is suspended from a rope, cable or the like 9 (compare also FIG. 3) which extends through the center passage of the respective tube and is trained about the pulley 14, to extend from there to a non-illustrated winch onto the drum of which it can be wound up as the core barrel 8 is to be raised, or from the drum of which it can be paid out as the core barrel is to be lowered.

As shown in FIG. 3, we have provided in the illustrated embodiment not only elongated barrel-guiding elements 6a which extend within the passage of the respective tube longitudinally of the latter to guide the core barrel 8 during movement, but also in the portion 10 we have provided a roller-type hawse, that is a plurality of rollers 11 which are turnably mounted for rotation about axes extending normal to the elongation of the respective tube (the tube 6 in this case), with the axis of each roller 11 extending at a right angle in the illustrated embodiment to the axis of a circumferentially successive roller 11. Thus, when the core barrel 8 is raised up it will be automatically guided into the passage of the tube 6 due to the convergent cross section in the interior of the portion 10, and will be engaged and guided with minimum friction by the rollers 11 until it moves into the interior of the tube 6 where it is guided by the guide members 6a.

The rope 12 of the respectively other unit, in FIG. 1

the unit 2 which cooperates with the unit 3, is connected with the tube (here the tube 6) in the region of the portion 10 thereof, and when the tube is in more or less vertical orientation the rope, cable or the like will hang loose as shown in broken lines in FIG. 1. When the core barrel 8 has been recovered with its core sample and is now located again in the tube 6, then the winch associated with the unit 2 is operated to take up the cable 12 and to pivot the tube 6 with the core barrel and the core sample therein about the pulley 14 of the unit 3 to a horizontal position which is shown in broken lines in FIG. 2. Thereupon, the units 2 and 3 are retracted until the tube 6 is located inboard of the ship. The bracket or other member 13 provided on each of the units 2, 3, 4 and 5 can be raised or lowered (the latter possibility is shown with respect to the unit 4) hydraulically, pneumatically, electrically or mechanically (e.g., by means of a screw spindle) so that when this is accomplished for two of the units simultaneously (e.g., the units 2 and 3) the horizontally oriented tube 6 with its core barrel 8 and the sample core can be gently lowered onto the deck 1. In this position, the tube 6 can be opened, for example by removing a side if one side is not already open, and access may now be had to the core for examination or possible removal.

To protect the rope or similar member 9 against damage, and in order to make it possible to fix the position I of the core barrel 8 during movement of the respective tube to and from horizontal position, the upper end of the tube may be provided with a diagrammatically illustrated guidance device which guides the cable 9.

Finally, it should still be mentioned that the connection between the tubes 6 and 7 and their associated units 3 and 4 is such that during movements of the ship on the waves, the respective tubes will follow any movements of the cable 9 in such a manner that the cable 9 will always be located substantially midway of the passage in the respective tube.

It is self-evident that the embodiment illustrated is exemplary only and serves to explain the principle of the invention. Clearly, the tubes 6 and 7 could be of circular cross section, rather than the quadratic cross section which has been shown, or they could be of any other desired and suitable cross section. Equally clearly, the cross section of the portion 10 could be other than what has been illustrated, and various other modifications could be made without departing from the intent and scope of the invention.

lt will be understood that each of the elements described above, or two or more together, may also find a useful application in other types of constructions differing from the type described above,

While the invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in a device for taking core samples from the ocean and other submarine floors, it is not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist of the present invention that others can by applying current knowledge readily adapt it for various applications without omitting features that, from the standpoint of prior, fairly constitute essential characteristics of the generic or specific aspects of this invention and, therefore, such adaptations should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalence of the following claims.

What is claimed as new and desired to be protected by Letters Patent is set forth in the appended claims.

1. In a device for taking core samples from ocean and other submarine floors, a combination comprising a core barrel for taking a core from a submarine floor; means for deploying and recovering said core barrel, said means comprising a guide tube having a center passage dimensioned for movement of said core barrel therethrough and provided with two end portions one of which is provided with an open end for entry and exit of said core barrel, said center passage having in the region of said open end a cross-section which conically diverges towards said open end, and barrel-guiding elements within said passage for guiding said core barrel during movement in said passage; and at least two shipboard-mounted deploying and recovering units for said guide tube, each connected with one of said end portions of the latter and having a shipboard-mounted first portion, and a second portion guided by and movable along said first portion between a first position in which said second portion projects at least in part overboard, and a second position in which said second portion is fully retracted onboard.

2. A combination as defined in claim 1, wherein each of said second portions has a free end section provided with tackle for connection with a respective one of said end portions of said guide tube, so that the latter may be swung between a substantially vertical and a substantially horizontal position by differential operation of the respective tackles.

3. In a device for taking core samples from ocean and other submarine floors, a combination comprising a core barrel for taking a'core from a submarine floor; means for deploying and recovering said core barrel, said means comprising a guide tube having a center passage dimensioned for movement of said core barrel therethrough and provided with two end portions one of which is provided with an open end region for entry and exit of said core barrel, said center passage having in the region of said open end a cross-section which conically diverges towards said open end, and barrelguiding elements within said passage for guiding said core barrel during movement in said passage; and at least two shipboard-mounted deploying and recovering units for said guide tube, each connected with one of said end portions of the latter, one of said units being connected with said region of said open end of said guide tube and operative to displace said guide tube from a substantially vertical to a substantially horizontal position and vice versa, and the other of said units being pivotably connected with said other end of said guide tube so as to support said guide tube in a substantially vertical orientation. 

1. In a device for taking core samples from ocean and other submarine floors, a combination comprising a core barrel for taking a core from a submarine floor; means for deploying and recovering said core barrel, said means comprising a guide tube having a center passage dimensioned for movement of said core barrel therethrough and provided with two end portions one of which is provided with an open end for entry and exit of said core barrel, said center passage having in the region of said open end a cross-section which conically diverges towards said open end, and barrel-guiding elements within said passage for guiding said core barrel during movement in said passage; and at least two shipboard-mounted deploying and recovering units for said guide tube, each connected with one of said end portions of the latter and having a shipboard-mounted first portion, and a second portion guided by and movable along said first portion between a first position in which said second portion projects at least in part overboard, and a second position in which said second portion is fully retracted onboard.
 2. A combination as defined in claim 1, wherein each of said second portions has a free end section provided with tackle for connection with a respective one of said end portions of said guide tube, so that the latter may be swung between a substantially vertical and a substantially horizontal position by differential operation of the respective tackles.
 3. In a device for taking core samples from ocean and other submarine floors, a combination comprising a core barrel for taking a core from a submarine floor; means for deploying and recovering said core barrel, said means comprising a guide tube having a center passage dimensioned for movement of said core barrel therethrough and provided with two end portions one of which is provided with an open end region for entry and exit of said core barrel, said center passage having in the region of said open end a cross-section which conically diverges towards said open end, and barrel-guiding elements within said passage for guiding said core barrel during movement in said passage; and at least two shipboard-mounted deploying and recovering units for said guide tube, each connected with one of said end portions of the latter, one of said units being connected with said region of said open end of said guide tube and operative to displace said guide tube from a substantially vertical to a substantially horizontal position and vice versa, and the other of said units being pivotably connected with said other end of said guide tube so as to support said guide tube in a substantially vertical orientation. 